A-I trounce Kerala

CHENNAI, NOV 29: Air-India, Mumbai, overwhelmed Kerala 12-1, while Food Corporation of India FCI, New Delhi, scored an emphatic 5-2 win ...

CHENNAI, NOV 29: Air-India, Mumbai, overwhelmed Kerala 12-1, while Food Corporation of India FCI, New Delhi, scored an emphatic 5-2 win over Madhya Pradesh on the third day of the Group C8217; 60th National Hockey League Championship here on Wednesday.

Air-India, FCI and hosts Tamil Nadu have won three matches each in the five team round robin matches held so far. Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have drawn blank.

In the first match, Air-India were ruling the roost against a hapless Kerala. Viren Raxquina drew the first blood and then Kerala citadel fell in frequent intervals. International Edward Aranha netted three goals 4th, 11th and 12th and Alex D8217;Souza and Cornelius D8217;Costa scored a brace of goals each. Others to score for Air India were Gavin Ferreira, Roshan Tete, Conroy Remedious and Devinder Kumar. Parveenkumar scored the loan goal for Kerala.

In the other match, Rajiv Panchal 4th and 50th, Navbir 17th, Sanjay and Gajinder Singh 67th scored for the FCI while Laxman Yadav and Ramesh Kumar netted for Madhya Pradesh.

Rlys, Hyderabad qualify

HYDERABAD: Indian Railways and hosts Hyderabad scored emphatic wins over ITBP and Andhra Pradesh respectively on Wednesday the Group A8217; league matches to qualify for the Super League. The two teams, invincible in this phase, would clash on Thursday to decide who stands at first and second places.

On the penultimate day, which witnessed one-sided matches, Indian Railways trounced ITBP 5-2, Hyderabad blanked Andhra 4-0 while SAIL defeated Bihar 3-1.

In the first match, M Ekka 19th, Sanjeev Kumar Singh 27th, Chanderpal 28th, M Bikramjit Singh 47th and Brijnev Singh 55th found the mark for Railways while Ramkumar 51st and Emanuel 61st netted for the ITBP.

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Hyderabad scored through Ramesh 15th and Anand Ratnakar 21st, 44th and 65th. In the third match of the day Suman Kumar 17th, Satvender Singh 21st and Mahabir Singh 42nd scored for SAIL while S Nag reduced the margin in the 35th minute for Bihar.

Bengal thrash Manipur

IMPHAL: Bengal beat Manipur 4-1 at the Qiuwapat Khuman Lampa Stadium here on Wednesday.

Poulos Soi 11th, Nirmal Bhengra 12th and Manoj Kujur 20th and 66th were on target for Bengal while the lone goal for Manipur was scored by Shanta Kumar Singh at 68th minute.

In another matches, Orissa beat Assam 6-0, while Indian-Airlines defeated Nagaland 3-0. For Orissa the scorers were Jeneric 11th, Abhay 15th, William 22nd, Severan Kumar 44th, Nageswar 47th and Binay Prakash 53rd. For Indian Airlines the scorers were Altaf Ur 8th, Brojen Singh 13th and Mukesh 30th.

Mandeep shines

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JAMMU: A fine two-goal contribution by Mandeep Singh helped Jamp;K beat Bhopal 3-1 in its second round robin match in pool F8217; here on Wednesday. In other matches of the day, Himachal Pradesh beat Haryana 3-1, Chandigarh beat Customs and Excise 2-1 in Pool F matches while Punjab beat Indian Postal Services 2-0 and BSF beat Patiala 1-0 in pool G.

Jaan Jojo 34th and Mandeep 56th and 58th scored for Jamp;K while M Shakir Khan 61st reduced the margin for Bhopal.

In other matches, Sourav Bishnoi 18th and 51st scored a brace for Chandigarh while the lone goal for Customs was netted by Rajinder Singh 22nd.

Baljeet Dhillon 1st and 51st scored both the goals for Punjab against Indian Postal Services. In the fourth match, H Tirkee 52nd scored the only goal of the match. In the last match of the day, Dheeraj 31st and 33rd and Pulkit 50th netted for Himachal Pradesh while Deepak 10th scored the only goal for Haryana.